Friday, April 27, 2018

The History of the World - Part Three

The Ancient History Encyclopedia's Map of the Ancient World is an interactive map of the world from around 6,000 BCE to 270 BCE. The map plots historical civilizations and places by date. Change the date and the map changes to show the rough borders of the civilizations and people's of your selected time

The map carries a disclaimer that it is "only complete in the Mediterranean until around 270 BCE". However the map isn't limited to this period and location. If you use the back and forward arrows to navigate the map then you might not realize that the map actually does include data for the rest of the world. You can also move forward in time beyond 270 BCE (although the map doesn't continue past the Roman Empire).

Chronas is another interactive map which aims to provide a view of historical events across the globe. This interactive map visualizes Wikipedia entries by date and by location.

Chronas not only maps historical events but also provides a mapped overview of country boundaries for any given date. If you select a year from the time slider, running along the bottom of the map, the map will update to show how the world's borders existed at the chosen time.

If you then click on a country or geographical area on the map a Wikipedia article on the selected historical region will open in the map sidebar. For example, if you select the year 573 AD from the time slider, you can select the Visigoths region on the map to learn more about these nomadic tribes.

The map shows the towns and cities of the ancient world as well as major & minor roads, temples and other structures important to the Roman Empire. The map shows locations from the Pleiades gazetteer and the Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilizations, both of which are based on the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World.

Pleiades is a great resource for anyone interested in the history and geography of the ancient world. The site is a community based and open-sourced gazette of ancient places. It currently has extensive coverage for the Greek and Roman world and is now expanding into other historical periods and civilizations.

Of course the Earth did exist for a little while before Homo sapiens arrived on the scene. You can view what the Earth looked like 600 million years ago on this interactive 3d globe from Dinosaur Pictures. What Did the World Look Like allows you to travel back in time to the dawn of multi-cellular life on Earth.

What Did the World Look Like can show you a 3d map of the world for any period of Earth's history. The map includes two menus which allow you to change the era visualized on the interactive 3d globe. The menu at the top of the page allows you to select an era by age. The menu at the top right allows you to select a view based on the stages of life on Earth and by geologic period.